Turkey: Not Making Eyes at the Eurasian Union -- For Now

After 26 years of frustration over its start-and-stop bid to join the European Union, would Turkey ever consider joining a rival regional bloc led by the Kremlin? Few observers believe it likely, but it’s not completely out of the question.

In late October, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev claimed that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had inquired about joining the Moscow-led Eurasian Union, a proposed alternative to the EU. The Russian-led project is envisioned as evolving out of the present customs union, which links Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia. Armenia also recently pledged to join the customs union.